Saturday, August 30, 2008

James Goode has every reason to smile. Not only is his book on Washington D. C. sculpture scheduled for November publication by The Johns Hopkins University Press but there is also a full page article about his remarkable bookplate collection on Page 80 in this month's issue of Fine Books &Collections

I have noticed that the use of bookplates is often passed on from generation to generation in some families. Not all the Adams shown here are directly related to one another but once I started scanning I decided to include them all. The bookplates used by Presidents John Quincy Adams and John Adams have been researched quite thoroughly and are all described and illustrated in A Catalog Of The Books Of John Quincy AdamsDeposited in the Boston Athenaeum. The book should sell for $75.00 to $100.00

The two bookplates illustrated above were engraved by Arthur N. Macdonald. The Rev. Dr. Arthur Adams was the librarian of Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut and was also an authority on the subject of heraldry

Frederick Baldwin Adams Jr. was a noted book collector and his plate was done by Rockwell Kent

John Titford, fellow bookplate collector and genealogist has given me the following information about this plate:

" John Adams Junior is no real problem. "Ch Ch" means Christ Church [College], Oxford. I assume that "Junior" suggests that his father was also John, so see Joseph Foster's "Alumni Oxonienses" - members of the University of Oxford. The right man must be John, son of John of Serjeant's Inn. The father would have been a Serjeant at Law, a forerunner of senior barristers now known as Queen's Counsel (QC)."

Richard Adams wrote Watership Down and his delightful bookplate was designed by Jennifer Campbell who also illustrated several of his books.

Monday, August 25, 2008

No bookplates to show today. I started to look at holy cards and religious images in my ephemera loose leaf album and felt like sharing them with you. More often than not , I ask booksellers if they have a box of ephemeral items found in old books.Sometimes I get bookplates and sometimes I find items like these. In any event, it pays to ask.

Click On Images To Enlarge Yesterday I got back from Hartford Papermania . Most of my purchases were not bookplates . I bought the image on the left depicting a mason . The image on the right, by the same artist was already in my collection. Does anyone out there have any information about the artist I.Busch ?

I am assuming these are German , 18th century hand colored prints taken from books.

If you have found interesting ephemeral items in old books let me hear from you and I will include your treasures in a future posting.

"I'm a new member of the Bookplate Society. In reading my first newsletter, I read about you and your blog-- what a treasure trove!! I am very new to this fascinating world of bookplates. I came across a recent Barnes & Noble publications book about them quite by accident at an antiquarian bookseller's in Chicago a couple of years ago. Around that time, too, I read a biography of the 18th C engraver Thomas Bewick..... Inspired by the beautiful designs in the bookplate book and by what I learned about wood engraving in the Bewick book, I commissioned a local Michigan wood engraver to create bookplates for my two sons. Since that time, I have learned that there is a very active world of collectors and have purchased 4 plates on ebay..... Including the bookplate enclosed as a gift with the Bookplate Society, that brings my collection to a big 5 plates, 7 if I include stolen plates from my sons!!

I'm curious: how do you organize and store your bookplates?

Almost every collector I know has a unique way of storing and displaying bookplates. I buy Ultra-Pro archival loose leaf sheets at a local stamp and coin shop.They come in four pocket , two pocket, and nine pocket sizes(see image on top) . Into each pocket I insert acid free paper so that I can display bookplates on each side of the page. The Ultra Pro website is http://www.ultrapro.com/

As to organizing that is an ongoing process. I have as the collection has grown purchased many loose leaf albums. Parts of the collection are sorted by artist, themes, dates of usage etc

I'm also wondering if you could suggest a book or series of books that I might study to better understand the history of bookplates."

There are so many books to choose from but here are the ones I use most frequently :

American Bookplates by William E. Butler

Rockwell Kent, The Art Of The Bookplate by Don Roberts

American Bookplates by Charles Dexter Allen

A Treasury Of Bookplates From The Renaissance To The Present by Fridolf Johnson

The Fridolf Johnson book is an inexpensive Dover book and that is the one I recommend you purchase first.

This email was sent to me and with the writer's permission I have reproduced most of it so that I can share the information with those of you who have similar questions.One more thing I might mention is to find a local hand bookbinder.They often hold onto old bookplates and are often pleased to sell them to collectors who contact them.

Next weekend I will be at Papermania in Hartford and the blog will probably be updated after I return on Monday.

Here is a link to an excellent blog posting by Charles Ellwood Jones about the bookplates used by scholars in ancient studies.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Earlier in the week I was looking at Ebay listings and came upon this bookplate label for Henry H. Crapo. Mary came into the room to see why I was laughing and I asked her if she would have married me if this was my last name. It turns out that Henry Howland Crapo was the 14th Governor of Michigan and many members of his family were and are distinguished public servants. The"revisionist" pronunciation for the family name is "cray-poe "

My July 28th, 2006 posting was about bookplates and light bulbs . This recently purchased magazine appealed to me because of the cover. Incandescent bulbs, (soon to become obsolescent ) were cutting edge technology in early 20th century and were depicted with appropriate Victorian respect.

Bookplate withdrawal is not yet listed in DMS IV.The symptoms are hard to describe but there is a genuine sense of loss accompanied by irritability. I have not unearthed any bookplate treasures for several weeks and hopefully this dry spell will end soon. Papermania in Hartford, Connecticut is coming up soon and that is usually fairly productive.

I purchased this quarto stitched pamphlet because of the woodcut cover illustration by W. Schoner. I have found no information about him and your input would be appreciated.You can click on the image to enlarge.

This article below appeared in the November 1947 issue of House and Gardens .

Click on Image to enlarge. Correct spelling of Artist's name is Bramanti. I would like to add this plate to my collection .Let me know if you have one for sale or trade.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Four bookplates in my collection which were engraved by John Hudson Elwell .Click on images to enlarge.

Yesterday I went bookplate hunting at Shupps Grove http://www.shuppsgrove.com/The pickings were slim because of the rain but I did find a few items of interest.I believe Daniel W. Hamm was a high school principle in Allentown Pennsylvania.The artist's signature is enlarged .Perhaps one of you might recognize it.I can't make it out.

I bought several copies of this Adora label . One will go into my ephemera collection and the others will wind up on Ebay.

I also purchased this calling card engraved by John Hudson Elwell in 1918 ,while employed by the W.H. Brett Co. of Boston. Since very little has been written about this engraver . I have scanned four bookplates which he engraved in the early 1900's

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this hobby is the exchange of duplicates . To increase trades among collectors I have started a simple exchange website. Participation is free and I retain the right to not accept images in poor taste.